SINCE a life-changing accident five years ago, wheelchair user Will Clark, from Grasmere, has become a charity volunteer, taken up sailing and ski-karting and addressed an international spinal injuries conference. Recently elected as a county councillor, he decided his next challenge would be to conquer Snowdon.

Latrigg, above Keswick, isn’t a particularly high or challenging Lake District fell but it became a symbol of what might be possible for Will Clark. Continue Reading »

Alec Gotto was just a few weeks old when he was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a syndrome that causes spine inflamation and makes movement of the legs and arms extremely difficult.

The young boy from the small town (and my hometown) of Dyersville, Iowa didn’t let it slow him down.

With his boots tucked into the straps of his motorized wheelchair, he got the crowd out of their own seats and up on their feet as he proudly showed his steer at the National Junior Angus Show in Des Moines. Continue Reading »

When Sam Schmidt began to prepare his remarks for his Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday, he struggled.

The race car driver and owner knows it’s his accomplishments on the track that qualified him for the honor, but that’s not the only legacy he’s hoping to leave. At least not since his crash on Jan. 6, 2000, at Walt Disney World Speedway that rendered him a quadriplegic.

“I really feel longer term, what I hope to be known for is more what’s happened after my injury,” Schmidt said. “The whole idea of overcoming adversity and moving on. I wouldn’t wish this injury on anybody, but I truly feel now, 17 years later, that I have helped thousands more people than I ever could have being a race car driver.” Continue Reading »

Rarely are the phrases ‘beauty tutorial’ and ‘inspirational tour de force’ used in the same sentence, though the vlogger Steph Aiello may be a unique exception. Left paralyzed from the waist down and with limited use of her hands and wrists after a car accident, Aiello has found a renewed sense of purpose through her passion for makeup and vlogging — and she’s building a burgeoning social presence in the process.

Aiello, now 26, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the desert back in 2010 on a car trip from Las Vegas to California, the Daily Mail reports. A friend riding with her at the time did not survive the accident. Aiello, who was supposed to begin cosmetology school the very next day, spent months in the hospital in recovery. Continue Reading »

The incredible 2+ months of #ThisIsHowI photos and videos has shown us that this is what AbleThrive is all about. So rather than end the campaign, we’re baking it into our culture to continue to bring awareness and visibility to the lives and abilities of people with disabilities around the world. This is how we shatter stereotypes and show what’s possible- so we hope you’ll keep sharing your photos and videos and tag us moving forward.

The world’s first female quadriplegic racing driver paid a visit to students in Southgate to share some wisdom.

Paralysed from the chest down having broken her neck in a car accident at 16, Nathalie McGloin made her racing debut in 2015 and now competes alongside able bodied drivers in her specially adapted Porsche.

She visited Barnet & Southgate College today (September 29) to speak about her experiences and receive a tour of the college’s Learners with Learning Disabilities (LLDD) centre. Continue Reading »